ChangeThis: Issue 76
November 03, 2010
Forget Cinderella, Find Fred Astaire by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox “Most companies would like to become more gender balanced at all levels, with women and men dancing together in a smooth and natural way. They have been trying for decades to attract, retain and promote more women. They have tried to grow their female customer bases.
"Most companies would like to become more gender balanced at all levels, with women and men dancing together in a smooth and natural way. They have been trying for decades to attract, retain and promote more women. They have tried to grow their female customer bases. [...]
But nobody ever bothered checking if the prince can actually dance."
"So ubiquitous have Web sites become that it's hard to believe they've been with us for less than 20 years. It was the 1994 introduction of the browser-enabled World Wide Web that gave birth to the Web site. Since then they have gone through about four stages of evolution: [...]
Now, we're entering a fifth era of the evolution: transformation of the Web site into a real-time marketing (and sales) machine. This is the natural evolutionary outcome of a process that started with a new way to slip brochures under people's doors."
"Social media has the potential to dramatically improve the inner workings of every company. The interstitial connections can quickly cross business silos, inform decision making, educate people at all levels, and allow employees—especially new entrants—to pick up the natural rhythms of how people around them work. But only if the company allows access to social networks. And most companies don't."
"Major change usually comes off a platform of crisis, and I think everyone can agree that crisis conditions surely exist in health care economics. The nation's health care bill has been doubling every eight years for the last four decades. The runaway costs have been busting the budgets of federal, state and local governments, and they have bled the bottom lines of corporations."
"When they're not around you or me, the Amish speak a language called Pennsylvania German. Demut is their word for humility. And Demut isn't just for the Amish.
Why does humility matter?
It matters in business. It matters in life. It matters in our relationships."
That (Can) Thrive in Crises by Alan Lewis
"Most organizations believe they are not working as well as they used to. They blame the rapid and unpredictable changes that are going on around them. But many of them have failed to grasp one fundamental truth: CHANGE IS THE NEW CONSTANT. To be successful in the 21st century requires an approach that change is here to stay, so one of the most critical components for success is now the ability to build a culture to adapt and thrive in change."